Door closing means for load discharging cars



June 2, 1953 i I s. B. DOREY DQ R CLOSING MEANS FOR LOAD DISCHARGING CARS I 3 sheets sheet 1 NVE'NTOR BGU'EORG-E B. DOREY Ms. Arrakflr June 2, 1953 a. B. DQHEY DOOR CLOSING MEANS FOR LOAD DISCHARGING CARS Filed March 9, 1949' 's Sheets-Sheet 2 r r M. w a .M m w B A E s 6. M

'- I INVENTDR GEOR June 2, 1953 e. B. DOREY 2,640,437 DooR bLosIm MEANS FOR LOAD nrscmcmg CARS Fi] ed March 9', 1949 4 3 sh ets-sheet;

vs/v ro GEORGE B. 30KB) H/s ATTORNEY Patented June 2, 1953 .UNITED STATES i firil'ENT DOOR CLUSING MEANSFOB- LOAD DISCHARG-ING EARS George B. Dorey, Westmount, Quebec, Canada,

assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application March 9, 1949', Serial No; 80,474

5 Claims.

It: is a particular object of my invention to provide an improved center discharge car having hoppers on each side of. acenter sill and disposed. in transversely aligned relation with longitudinally extending doors arranged for dumping beneath the center sill of the car whereby the mechanism employed for the operation of said doors will be disposed intermediately the ends of the-doors and thus elimi note. the necessity for large and cumbersome housings at the ends of the hopper doors.

Another object of my invention is. to provide improved hopper car construction which will allow door" supporting flexible connections and idler pulleys to project beyond adjacent parts of hopper walls. into the plane of the hopper andtdprovidesuitable enclosing means for such projecting parts.

My inventioni'urther resides in the particular form. of pulley carrying. bracket'employed and iniits'imountingin relationto other'partsof the of. transversely alined hoppers.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of. a part of the center sill: and: illustrating one of the pulley brackets Fig; 3- is. a plan viewof thepair". of.v hoppers showing as; much of? the center sill and:hopp'er doorswith the associatedimechanism as is neces sary to: illustrate: my improved construction, said view being taken. on a line 3-3. of Fig. 1,. the left hand half of the figure being taken a plan" view about the centersill and the righthand half being a sectional view through the center sill as indicated.

Fig. 4- isavertical elevatio'nal sectional view taken througha hopper and on a line l l of Fig. 1; saidview illustrating one of the pulleys 21 and brackets. as. seenwith the; covering element removed.

In said drawings Ill-4i} indicate the rails in relation to a center. discharge car having. my improved construction;

The car includes a longitudinally extending center sill. having a pair of verticalwebs ll-ll and a flange I2- outstanding, from the lower margin of each web. The center sillis. surmounted by an inverted V-shaped longitudinally extending cope l3" and-at each side of the center sill there are downwardly projecting walls. 14 in the form of angle members each having a flange id resting on the center sill and the adjacent flange l6 forming the downward extension.

EXtendi-ng. downwardly from the upper part of the center sill are shedding. plateshavin-g an inclined. section ll. lying at an angle abovethe outstanding. flange of the center sill. Said plates H are bent to provide vertically disposed. attaching upper and lower portions indicated at it and I9. respectively, the former being secured to the upper part of the center sill and. the lower portion disposedto overlie thedownwardly extendingwall It-of the center. sill and secured thereto.

Longitudlnally extending hoppers are. disposed on the opposite. sides of the center sills each having doors illextending upwardly when. in closed position to abut the downward extension l6 of the. center sill. The doorsrare hinged on longitudinally extending rods 2i whichgin turn are mounted on transversely extending beam members 22 disposed. at the respective ends of the hopper. and secured to spacers 23 which-lie between the webs l lot the center sill and operate to maintain them inspacedrelation. Thebeam members 223 in co-operation with end framing memberst l formsupports for end iioorsid and side floor sections 26 and. 21.- The. doors move downwardly to inclined position as. indicated by conventional dot. and: dash lines at 23 and-are preferably arranged tov function in unison from a common shaft 29. v

The shaft 29 is disposedcentrally between the webs ll of. the center sill and is: mounted. in bearings 3d. Connecting. each door illl with the shaft 29 are flexible connections. M which are preferably in the form of chains.

There are preferably two flexible connections 31: per door and. these are spaced from. each otherlengthwise oil the door. and .the connections from the-respective. alined doors are-arranged; to wind ona common. winding; sheave: 3-2-1 non-s 3 rotatively mounted on the operating shaft 29.

Said connections 3| extend through openings 33 in the center sill webs H and pass over idler pulleys 34 and are thereby deflected from a straight line path. The idler pulleys 34 are freely rotatable on pintles 35 which seat in open ended bearings 36, Fig. 2, formed in brackets 31 and the axes of said pintles are located above the outstanding flanges 12 of the center sill. The brackets 31 are disposed in the angle formed by the center sill web I i and. outstanding flange 12, and have angularly related bearing walls 38 and 39 for respectively engaging with the upper flange 15 of the extension angle and the center sill web II.

The shedding plates I! are formed in sections separated by an intervening space in which the brackets 31 are received. The brackets 3'1 with their associated pulleys 34 and flexible connections 3| project outwardly beyond the shedding plates and, in order to house the said projecting door mechanisms, housings 4B are employed to overlie the said parts. Said housings 40 are formed with a base portion 4| which conforms to the shape of the shedding plates IT and overlaps the ends of the respective adjacent sections and are secured thereto by means of rivets, as indicated at 42 and 43, Fig. 4, which extend through the center sill web I l and the vertical wall of the bottom member I9, respectively.

Intermediate the said attaching base portions 4| each housing 40 is provided with an embossed upper housing portion 44 for enclosing the protruding portions of the pulley 34 and chain 3| and said embossment is provided with a lower downwardly extending fluted portion 45 providin a tunnel-like chamber through which the flexible connection extends.

The lower edge of the tunnel portion 45 is beveled to lie adjacent and parallel to the upper face of the door 20 when it is in closed position.

The ends of the pintles 35 lie in the plane of and adjacent to the end edges 48 of the shedding plate sections, Fig. 4, and consequently the use of headed pins and pin locking elements such as cotters is dispensed with. It will be further noted that the pulley and pintle assemblies are rendered accessible for inspection and renewal as required through the simple expedient of removing the housings 4D.

The rotation of the shaft 29 may be effected by any convenient means, such as a worm and gear mechanism and a transversely extending operating shaft (not shown).

The arrangement, permitting the protrusion of certain parts of the mechanism in the load containing hopper area and enclosing said parts by embossed housings 40, permits the placement of the supporting chains 3| midway of the length of the doors 20 and dispenses with the necessity of utilizing continuous sloping floors at a high level above the mechanisms. In this manner the stationary floors are placed at a low level in the car structure and large cubical carrying capacity is obtained with light weight.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a load discharging car of the character described including a center sill having a vertical web and an outstanding marginal flange, and a discharge door extending from its hinge axis towards said sill; an operating shaft mounted outwardly beyond the door and beyond the web of the center sill, a flexible connection extending from the shaft to the door, said connection extending through the center sill and transversely above the flange and leading downwardly adjacent thereto to connect with the door, an idler pulley engaging the connection for deflecting the same from a straight line path, and bearing means mounted on said center sill for supporting said idler pulley so that its pivotal axis is in a plane parallel to said vertical web and the pulley is positioned in the space between said flange and said vertical web in juxtaposition to both.

2. In a load discharging car of the character described including a center sill having a vertical web and an outstanding lower marginal flange, and a discharge door extending from its hinge axis towards the sill; an operating shaft mounted outwardly beyond the door and outwardly beyond the center sill web, a flexible connection extending between the shaft and. door, said connection extending through the center sill and transversely above the flange and downwardly adjacent thereto to connect with the door, an idler pulley engaging the connection for deflecting the same from a straight line path, a bracket located in the angle formed by the web and flange of the center sill forming a support for the pulley and holding the same in the lading space of the car and in the space between said flange and said vertical web in juxtaposition to both, shedding plates located at each side of the bracket and extendin downwardly at an incline from the upper part of the center sill web to the outer edge of the center sill, and a housing overlapping said inclined shedding plates and formed with a chambered embossment extending into the lading space ofv the car and embracing the pulley and a fluted tunnel like depending extension enclosing the downwardly extending portion of the connection.

3. In a load discharging car of the character described including a center sill structure ex-- tending lengthwise centrally of the car, said sill structure having a pair of spaced vertical webs flanged outwardly at their lower margins to present a horizontally disposed wall and a downwardly extending wall leading from the outer edge of each said flange, and discharge hoppers on each side of the center sill structure each including a door extending inwardly from its pivotal axis and swingable to closed position to meet the downward extension of the center sill; means for operating and supporting the doors including an operating shaft disposed midway between the sills and flexible connections extending from the shaft to the doors; means for deflecting the connections from a straight line path including idler pulleys, supporting brackets for the pulleys, said brackets being disposed outwardly of the center sill webs and above their lower outstanding flanges and holding said pulleys in the lading space of the car and said vertical web in juxtaposition to both and pintles for supporting the pulleys carried by said brackets; floor sections extending at an incline above the lower flanges of the center sill, said sections having their edge portions lying adjacent said pintles to limit endwise movement thereof, and housings each having a base plate overlying the ends of the floor sections and downwardly extending wall of the center sill, each said housing having an embossment extending into the lading space of the car and enclosing the brackets, pulleys and connections.

4. In a load discharging car of the character described including a center sill having a vertical web and an outstanding marginal flange, and a discharge door extending from its hinge axis towards said sill; an operating shaft mounted outwardly beyond and parallel to the door and beyond the web of the center sill, a pair of flexible connections extending from the shaft to the door intermediate the ends thereof, said connections extending through the center sill and transversely above the flange and leading downwardly adjacent thereto to connect with the door as aforesaid, an idler pulley engaging each connection for deflecting the same from a straight line path, and brackets carried wholly by said center sill and supporting said idler pulleys in the lading space of the car so that the pivotal axes thereof are in a plane parallel to said vertical web and the pulleys are positioned in the space between said flange and said vertical web in juxtaposition to both.

5. In a load discharging car of the character described including a center sill having a pair of spaced vertical webs flanged outwardly at their lower margins, and discharge hoppers on each side of the center sill each including a discharge door extending from its hinge axis towards said sill; an operating shaft disposed between the webs parallel to the doors, a pair of flexible connections extending from the shaft to each door intermediate the ends thereof, said connections extending through the corresponding web of the center sill and transversely above the flange thereof and leading downwardly adjacent thereto to connect with the corresponding door as aforesaid, an idler pulley engaging each connection from underneath for deflecting the same from a straight line path, a bracket mounted on said center sill for supporting each idler pulley, the brackets individual to each pair of flexible connections being disposed above the corresponding center sill flange and supporting said idler pulleys in the lading space of the car so that the pivotal axes of the pulleys on the opposite sides of said center sill are in planes parallel to the respective vertical webs and the pulleys are positioned in the spaces between the respective flange and vertical web in juxtaposition to both, and a housing cverlying each idler pulley and bracket and extending from the corresponding vertical web into the lading space of the car.

GEORGE B. DOREY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

